


every journey needs a first step

by Sana (Sumi)



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-10 06:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12906537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sumi/pseuds/Sana
Summary: After the Outsider regains his humanity, he comes to a lingering realization about himself and Corvo Attano.





	every journey needs a first step

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mokuyoubi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mokuyoubi/gifts).



A few thousand years passed since he experienced the aches, pains, and unpleasant bodily functions that came with humanity. Billie Lurk was there from the beginning to help him readjust. She pulled him out of the dark depths of the Void and back into a world where he only interacted with a select few he deemed worthy of his mark.

They stayed far away from Dunwall at first. Billie alluded to writing to Emily about the circumstances involving her activities since the Empress took back her throne. She ‘wanted to give them fair warning’ were Billie’s exact words. The Outsider gave only a slight nod in response for he ultimately agreed with Billie.

The day they finally set foot in Dunwall, Billie turned to the Outsider and looked him right in the eyes. “What do you want to be called then?”

“You know my name, Billie Lurk,” he pointed out, the corner of his mouth quirking upwards in a hint of a smile. “I have been called many things. Call me what you wish.”

Billie scoffed in what sounded like amusement. “You’re human now. Generally you pick a name and then a nickname if you’re so inclined.”

“Outsider will do for now. A new name… or rather an old one will take some getting used too.”

Learning what it was like to be human again entirely would take time, but Billie understood that. Some things did not to be said aloud.

She took a puff of her pipe and nodded. “Outsider, it is then.”

Emily and Corvo were the two he favored most out of the few people he bestowed his mark upon. They defied expectations, surprising the Outsider again and again. He supposed it made sense to eventually go back to Dunwall and try to make some semblance of a home there.

It was Billie who floated the idea of being careful when they approached the tower one evening. She remained a wanted woman and he in the company of one. 

The first thing that happened after reuniting with the Empress and her Lord Protector was an intense staring match. After a period of silence, Corvo became the first to break the silence. “How’s it feel to be out of the Void?”

“Warmer,” the Outsider replied matter-of-factly.

Corvo blinked and quirked a small smirk of his own. “I never would have suspected the cold in the Void affected you.”

“The memory of it remains very clear.”

Emily cleared her throat, remaining a strong, silent figure up until that moment. “Billie, you’re more than welcome to stay.”

“A few days; at least until I find a replacement for the Dreadful Whale,” Billie said mindfully.

While they travelled to Dunwall, the Outsider learned he suffered from severe sea sickness. Billie concluded he would be better off remaining in Dunwall then traveling beside Billie Lurk on the new ship she planned to acquire. Ultimately, Billie left it in the Outsider’s hands to decide what he preferred to do with his new human life.

He spent so long in the void, watching and waiting. The few flickers of amusement were bestowing the mark on those who would certainly be interesting to watch. Despite what happened with Daud, seeing the choices these humans made with the power from the void provided immense entertainment. They shaped the world in the most fascinating of ways.

Now that he was finally human again, laying in a bed located in Dunwall Tower. Sleep was a curious thing. For thousands of years, sleep wasn’t a necessity, but a way to pass the time in the void. The pangs of exhaustion were starting to become too strong to ignore. He closed his eyes, but instead of falling into a restful sleep, it was one filled with nightmares.

He found himself vividly remembering the unforgiving coldness of the void. The Outsider woke up instantly, hands tightly clutching the sheets below him. “A nightmare,” he remarked to himself with a small sneer. The lack of sleep must’ve shown, for the next morning Corvo looked at him, expressing emotions he was unable to discern with his sleep addled brain.

“Difficult night I take it?”

He reluctantly nodded. “It was plagued by nightmares. I… must become reaccustomed to it.”

“It’s one of the things that goes along with being human, I’m afraid,” Corvo commented in a gruff, yet gentle tone. “Speaking of such things, rather than keeping them inside, can be beneficial. I am willing to listen.”

Corvo’s words brought about curious feelings in him. Feelings the Outsider would want to explore; if only he knew the correct way to do so. He opened his mouth to speak, wanting to press on the subject in order to further learn more about this. “Neither you nor Emily seem cross with me in the least.”

“We make our own decisions with the mark given to us.”

Emily, who hovered near the doorway, cast a smile in their direction and nodded in agreement. ‘There are those who may influence our destiny, but ultimately we are in control of it’ Emily once said to him in the fade. These words hung heavily in the air and held a ring of truth to them.

He made a noncommittal noise before focusing on the next challenge ahead; breakfast. The pangs of hunger were yet something else the Outsider found himself needing to get used too. It was an unpleasant feeling, much like the exhaustion still plaguing him.

The days and nights in Dunwall Tower blurred together, but it was nothing like what he experienced in the void. He continued to dream about the coldness reaching out and pulling him back in. No matter how much the Outsider fought, he couldn’t escape. Those cultists would not let him escape. Like they refused to do the first time, tightening his bonds and bringing the knife closer and closer to his throat.

Waking up clutching the sheets as if they were a lifeline with sweat pouring off him was starting to become his normal. He resorted to leaving the room graciously given to him by Emily and wandering the halls of Dunwall Tower. What the Outsider did not expect was to see Corvo hovering near the end of one hallway, gazing out the window.

Even without his heavy footsteps, Corvo would have noticed him. He flicked his eyes towards him and then back out the window. “Nightmares again?”

“Yes, but this time they were of the ritual and the sacrifice,” he explained almost absentmindedly, as if he were speaking about someone else entirely. “I showed you once. Albeit, a long time ago.”

He grimaced. “I remember. It’s a difficult thing to forget.”

Corvo Atano always had been a man of very few words. He enjoyed that fact about him. Simply standing there, looking out into the moonlight until the exhaustion the Outsider despised so much finally set in. It became a weekly event between he and Corvo. Spending so much time together and in close proximity no less, caused those curious feelings to make themselves known again and this time they were even stronger.

He observed enough humanity to realize the type of feelings he was growing for Corvo. The Outsider simply did not know how to express them properly. First he tried giving the ritual plant offering. Giving a gift of a handful of plants was lost on the Outsider, but he tried it anyway. 

The end result left him frustrated and Corvo appearing confused.

“You are giving me plants,” Corvo said matter-of-factly. It came out as a statement, but he could see the confusion written all over Corvo’s face, a man whose face usually betrayed little to no emotion.

He suddenly felt unsure, momentarily calling for the power to fade, before realizing he no longer possessed such an ability. “The plants are a gift.”

“Ah,” he muttered. “Thank you.”

Again, Corvo’s tone bordered on puzzled, leaving the Outsider even more frustrated.

The second attempt went much like the first. However, this time he tried with a potted plant instead of ones he picked. He assumed they would be better well received.Corvo seemed less confused, but to the Outsider’s dismay he still seemed slightly bewildered, as if he had an any of nature of the Outsiders gifts, but the answer seemed to impossible to believe.

“You’re gifting me a potted plant.”

“Yes,” he explained. “I heard plants are more aesthetically pleasing when held in a container.”

Corvo gave a small, puzzled smile. “There is some truth to that.”

One evening, Emily took him aside, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. “Father has never been one to notice even the most traditional of courting methods. Mother could vouch for that.”

“I performed the courting methods wrong?”

“They were… off,” Emily explained. “If Father were younger, he wouldn't have noticed either way.”

He nodded and when he met with Corvo that evening, he decided to clearly make his intentions known. “Emily explained to me that I haven't been clear with my attempts to court you so I decided to verbally tell you my intentions.”

“It does explain the grass and potted plant,” Corvo said with a chuckle.

The Outsider felt warmth bloom in his chest. It was difficult to keep composure with Corvo so close and looking at him such a way. “You haven't said whether you accept or not.”

He brushed a hand against the Outsider's cheek. “I do.”

Corvo Attano always was a man of few words and at that moment, the Outsider appreciated that fact very much.0


End file.
